Good morning. We just crossed 35k Press subscribers—more than double what we had this time last year. Needless to say, coming off a long Thanksgiving weekend, we’ve got a lot to be thankful for.

–Hannah Doyle

Plus, ICYMI: Yesterday we brought back Publish merch. You can check out the store here or earn the merch for free through the Publish Press referral program. More on that at the bottom of this newsletter.

Creators Cash In On Black Friday

We know you spent time shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday—but the question is where? Let’s just say if any of our loved ones are reading this, prepare for something from a creator brand in your stocking…

Because creators dominated this year’s major holiday shopping events. And that’s for one major reason—simply put, more creators are selling more products than ever before. Just on the shopping platform Spring, the number of creators selling merch jumped 200% from 2018 to 2020. And what started out as hats and t-shirts soon became, well, everything. By June 2020, non-apparel categories accounted for nearly $50 million in Spring sales.

Big picture: There really isn’t a business category in which creators aren’t playing competitively. Take Nitsan Raiter’s education courses, Emma Chamberlain’s coffee company, and NELK’s Happy Dad hard seltzer and leisure brand.

Why such broad appeal? Regardless of industry, creator products are a way for fans to rep the brand. Most creators are small, so buying (and wearing and using) a creator product signals to the world that you’re part of a not-so-secret club. It also provides another income stream for creators—for some, merch can 10x the income creators can make on YouTube AdSense alone, according to eCommerce app Sellfy.

And the shopping opportunities culminate this time of year: An estimated 166.3 million planned to shop over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to the National Retail Federation—8 million more than last year’s turnout.

Our Take

As more creators are building honest-to-goodness businesses, their ability to compete with Amazon or Best Buy or Walmart is putting them into “household name” territory for consumers. And if creators are holding their own at this scale, it opens the door for smaller creators—even with just a small merch drop—to grow their brand recognition and get a stronger response from their community.

Emily Mariko Turns Into TikTok's Martha Stewart

If you’ve been on Mariko-Tok over the last month (and let me tell you—what a pleasant place it’s been), then you’ve seen her profile become a festive ASMR paradise of chopping, roasting, and plating Thanksgiving dishes like squash soup, candied yams, and stuffing.

It’s the modern day interpretation of flipping on the Food Network and winding down as Martha Stewart roasts a chicken. For years, characters like Stewart, Chip and Joanna Gaines, and Carson Daly were picture-perfect fixtures of television, each with their own specialty. Now those characters are being cast on TikTok.

• Fibulaa is like a 2000s era Ashton Kutcher, comedy and trucker hat included.

• Party Shirt is taking on “fact or cap” challenges like the MythBusters duo.

• Reece Feldman is interviewing celebs behind the scenes like Kevin Frazier on Entertainment Tonight.

• Eilise Guilfoyle is doing female sketch parodies like Kristen Wiig.

Our Take

In nearly every classic TV genre, a creator has emerged as the definitive force in their entertainment niche—be that food, home improvement, or celebrity entertainment. While those genres are easier to typecast, today there’s no limit to how many types of creatives we can develop an affinity for, just as we did with our comfort TV stars in the 90s and early 2000s. And on TikTok, there’s still an open call sheet.

Sponsored by Spreadshop

3 Tips for Creators To Land Brand Deals

Brand deals are the most common way for creators to monetize, but how can you get started? How can creators stand out and attract marketers’ attention?

Here are three tips for creators from our friends at Spreadshop:

1. Be authentic — The best creator-brand relationships are born authentically—the creator actually likes the brand’s product and it aligns with their content. When you’re true to self in your content, the opportunities that come to you will be stronger.

2. Be visible — Of course your content’s findable, but can you add more information about your business and how marketers can work with you? By building your LinkedIn presence, or even a page on your website just for advertisers to get more info, you open yourself up to strong brand deal opportunities.

3. Maintain a good reputation — Sounds obvious but as both a creator and a business to partner with, it’s important to be known for the right reasons.

Check out more tips from the team at Spreadshop in this video.

Inside the Ops of a Creator-Built Bike Park

Just over six months ago, Seth Alvo, the creator behind mountain biking channel Berm Peak, opened a free public bike park with the help from his Patreon and sponsors like Black Diamond.

A few muddy tire tracks later, he’s learned some things about planning (and maintaining) a large-scale project →

What you can plan for: daily maintenance, calls with stakeholders, and addressing feedback.

What you can’t: where the funds will come from and how long it’ll take to raise them. Sometimes you need to sign contracts before you have the cash on hand.

Our Take

If you’re trying to get several parties on board with your idea, it’s important to have answers to the top questions—What’s the budget? How will it be executed? Talk to a professional to outline a plan (in Alvo’s case, a trail designer), so when you solicit funds, potential partners feel good placing their bets on you.

👀 Creator Moves

• House of Highlights is looking for a YouTube producer to develop show ideas. Must have 2–4 years of video production experience.

• Safiya Nygaard is looking for a part-time freelance writer with experience working with scripts.

• Emily Canham is hiring a thumbnail designer for vlog-style videos.

🎁 Share the Press

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🔥 Press Worthy

• Unspeakable and Joshua Weissman open a LEGO-themed restaurant…Legeaux.

• Airrack launches a vlog channel.

• Should streamers pay their moderators?

• Inside the business of child influencers.

• The person behind TikTok’s text-to-speech option.

• The Sidemen’s manager, Jordan Schwarzenberger, launches a podcast on the creator economy.